Marin Cilic vs. Steve Johnson – Prediction – ATP Cologne 2 (Germany) 19.10.2020

Preview and players comparison.

Marin Cilic has thoroughly dominated this matchup in the past by defeating Steve Johnson five times in as many meetings. However, all those five wins came during the Croatian’s prime years between 2014-2018, and he is not expected to have much of an advantage in this particular meeting.

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Marin Cilic’s struggle on tour continues as he was taken to the distance by the relatively inexperienced Marcos Giron in the first round of ATP Cologne last week before getting knocked out by the 21-year-old Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the second round. It was the former world #3 Marin Cilic’s second second-round defeat in two indoor hardcourt events this year. He previously played out two three-setters in Marseille earlier this year, winning one against Ilya Ivashka and losing the other against Denis Shapovalov. These are excellent opportunities for big-serving Croatian to put together a winning run and gain some confidence considering he has done exceptionally well on indoor hardcourts over the years, lifting eight ATP Tour titles and won 123 matches so far in his career.

Steve Johnson performed relatively better in Cologne last week as he defeated the in-form Filip Krajinovic in the first round and lost out in two tiebreakers against Lloyd Harris in the second round. After a below-par 2019 season, the former world #21 Steve Johnson made an encouraging start to 2020 by winning the title in Bendigo Challenger and Indian Wells Challenger and reaching the quarterfinal in Delray Beach. However, he seems to have lost all the momentum during the break and is struggling to win matches at the moment.

Match Info.